Is your tack looking a little bit…well…grody? Grody Girl’s Leather Care was created when founder, Tasida, of North Carolina, was cleaning and restoring vintage leather tack. Tasida found that traditional leather care products simply weren’t reviving the leather; rather, they left a greasy mess on top. Tasida began to research how to moisturize and protect different types of leather, then set about developing the first Grody Girl’s Leather Care product, Leather Restore.

You can’t beat the research and testing that has gone into the creation of Grody Girl’s Leather Restore – the product is the result of 10 years’ worth of research and testing. Thanks to that research and development, though, the product contains only ingredients selected for their molecular structure and ability to penetrate leather at different levels. Additionally, Grody Girl’s Leather Care products contain natural sunscreen type properties, helping your leather to resist fading. 

Grody Girl’s Leather Care offers a number of different products. Their original product, Leather Restore, is a restorative cream useful for rejuvenating forgotten leather or for giving regular leather a moisture boost. 

Explains Tasida, “the results of Grody Girl’s Leather Care products need to be felt to be truly appreciated. The suppleness is unsurpassed.” Less is more when using Grody Girl’s Leather Care products, as a little bit goes a long way. The products soak in quickly, leaving no greasy residue, a characteristic which makes them perfect for use on tooled leather since they don’t feel the crevices with gunk. Best of all, in addition to cleaning and conditioning your leather, the products leave you with a faint fragrance of orange and moisturized hands.

Be sure to visit Grody Girl’s Leather Care’s website and Facebook page. 

If you’re looking to stand out from the crowd, there’s no better way to do it than with a set of hand-painted tack. Sadie Simmons of Minnesota began her business, Sadies Hand Painted Tack, after making a custom tack set for her husband, who is in the military. When friends and other riders saw the tack set at shows, they asked if they could place orders and the trend quickly took off.

Sadies Hand Painted Tack grew quickly, and the tack has proven popular for barrel racing, rodeo events, parades, drill teams, and year-end awards, as well as for the everyday horse. The company’s motto, “One of a Kind Tack for Your One of a Kind Horse,” references one of the most interesting points of this business: No two items that Sadie creates are the same. Sadie works with clients to bring their design needs to life, from simple name customization to the more elaborate custom paint and bling.

A look through Sadie’s website will quickly bring to light the wide variety of products that she’s created. Sadies Hand Painted Tack offers many Western tack items including breast collars, halters, bronc nosebands, headstalls, spur straps, and even dog collars. Painted in a wide range of styles from the simple and elegant to the eye-catching and flashy, attention to detail is evident in every piece, as is each individual rider’s style.

To learn more about Sadies Hand Painted Tack, be sure to check out her website and her Facebook page. Sadie is offering a giveaway when her Facebook page reaches 14,000 likes (and she’s less than 200 likes away), as well as a giveaway of a tack set at 15,000 likes.

Salty Dawg Equine Services sports a name reminiscent of the ocean, and you’ll find the nautical theme present in some of the jumps designed by this family-owned business. Based in Massachusetts, Salty Dawg Equine Services offers show-quality jumps, gates, tack trunks, and other accessories at “back of the barn” prices.

Stefhanie Connors, founder and owner of Salty Dawg Equine Services, is an experienced equestrienne. With a background in equitation, she rode in a variety of competitions from local rated shows to prestigious competitions such as Horse Shows in the Sun (HITS) and the Vermont Summer Festival Horse Shows.

When it came to naming the business, Stefhanie turned to her own horse for inspiration. Stefhanie’s first horse was a Holsteiner, and when she named him she wanted a unique name that would stand out in the show ring. Stefhanie named her horse Salty Dawg – “Salty” being a reference to the salt waters of Long Island, where he was from, and “Dawg” because of the horse’s cuddly personality. It was only fitting that the business name be a tribute to the talented equine who took Stefhanie through her junior years of competition.

Stefhanie established Salty Dawg Equine Services in 2006 to provide quality jumps, gates, and tack trunks at affordable prices. Salty Dawg Equine Services products are designed to meet the high standards of equestrian centers, horse show managers, and trainers. All products are hand crafted, hand painted, and custom-made, allowing the buyer the opportunity to tailor products to fit their specific needs and desires.

Salty Dawg Equine Services offers a wide variety of products including jumps, gates, tack trunks, bit boxes, bandage racks, grooming boxes, and horseshoe-themed shelves. The jumps range from schooling standards to more creative custom designs. Stefhanie prides the jumps on providing versatility, durability, mobility, and beauty to riders.

Salty Dawg Equine Services products are available in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, the Capital District of New York, and northern New Jersey. To learn more about Salty Dawg Equine Services, visit their website and follow them on Facebook.

All photos courtesy of Salty Dawg Equine Services.

As equestrians, we pour years of training, practice, and hard work into getting our horses to the show ring. If we’re lucky, we’re rewarded with a ribbon…which then sits in the barn or hangs from a shelf, gets dusty, and fades.

Not exactly the way you want to remember the significance of your achievements with your horse, right? Equestrienne Kristie Strom set out to find a way to change that. After competing with her Morgan mare Tracemark Tapestry, Kristie wanted a way to trace the journey that she and her mare had taken together. It was from this desire that Trace Wear™ by Tracings LLC was created.

Trace Wear™ is a unique jewelry line designed by horse people, for horse people. Riders and competitors can select from the wide variety of Trace Wear™ charms to create a bracelet that reflects their significant accomplishments with their horse. Different charms represent different achievements, such as getting to a specific event, world championship titles, and blue ribbons. Each bracelet is unique to the individual horse and rider, and it serves to trace their journey in the competition ring together.  

Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Trace Wear™ offers quality jewelry for the equestrian. All of the charms are made of hand-crafted sterling silver and Swarovski® crystals. Whereas ribbons fade, Trace Wear™ bracelets are timeless, and a rider can proudly wear them to remember and display their achievements.

So before you consider ordering another ribbon rack to decorate your room, think about how you want to remember and commemorate your relationship with your horse. Visit Trace Wear™’s website and Facebook page to learn more.

P.S. – Hey Canadian riders, listen up: Trace Wear™ even ships to Canada!

Wet Noses Natural Dog Treat Company was founded in 1998 and over the years they’ve become one of the leaders in innovation in the treat category. They offer everything from limited ingredient, organic dog treats to gourmet birthday cakes. Jasmine Lybrand (the owner of Wet Noses) is so passionate about continuing to innovate and bring high quality treats to the market that the second she heard there was an opportunity in the horse world, she jumped in with both feet.

Wet Noses joined forces with a horse lover and training facility owner and they began taste tests with 22 horses sampling their Apples & Carrots treats. They received a 90% approval rate, so they proceeded to reformulate their treats to even better fit the needs of picky ponies. After continued research and baking, all of their 22 horses loved the new treats and Pocket Pony by Wet Noses was formed in January of 2014.

Pocket Pony treats are all-natural, 100% USDA-certified, organic treats that fit conveniently into a rider’s pocket. Pocket Pony treats are made in the USA (the family-owned bakery is located in Washington) using human-grade, American grown ingredients. Their treats are available in a wide range of appealing flavors including peppermint, pumpkin, oatmeal & molasses, and apple & carrot.

So what makes Pocket Pony treats stand out from the many other horse treats on the market? They’re organic, for one, which means you know just what you’re feeding your horse is safe. They’re also healthy, made from quality ingredients like pumpkin and peppermint leaves, rather than the sugary additives that are common in other horse treats. The treats are also bite-sized, can fit easily into your pocket, and won’t leave behind a sticky mess.

Convenient, healthy, and made of quality ingredients, Pocket Pony treats are a great way to give your horse a very special reward. To learn more, visit the Pocket Pony Treats website and Facebook page.

Be sure to check out our review of Pocket Pony treats.





All photos courtesy of Pocket Pony.

If you haven’t yet heard of The Secret Magpie, then you’re missing out on a fast-growing small business based right here in the United States. Francesca Fox originally founded The Secret Magpie in England, but since moving to the United States with her husband (who is a jockey, by the way!), she’s been running The Secret Magpie from the U.S. since March of this year.

At first glance you might wonder about The Secret Magpie’s name, but given a little thought the name couldn’t be more fitting for this business. The magpie is a bird which, according to folklore, loves shiny objects. And shiny objects are The Secret Magpie’s expertise – according to Francesca, “at The Secret Magpie you can find everything that is girly, bling, and glamorous right in one place.”

The Secret Magpie offers a unique service dedicated to ladies who love horses, fashion, and bling. They bling anything and everything. While The Secret Magpie specializes in all things horse, they also have a unique niche market – blinged up horse racing equipment. Seeing the popularity of bling in the barrel racing and Western riding world, The Secret Magpie has brought that trend to racing with blinged racing goggles, helmet covers, and more.

The Secret Magpie products aren’t limited to the equestrian world. Francesca began the business because it’s difficult to find a service that blings everything, so now The Secret Magpie fills that demand. Looking for bling champagne bottles, shoes, or pet accessories? The Secret Magpie can do it, and more. All items are created using Swarovski crystals, and most of them can be customized.

Best of all, The Secret Magpie ships worldwide. Francesca also believes in supporting other small businesses, and enjoys pairing with small home businesses to help give them a leg up.

To learn more about The Secret Magpie visit their Facebook page, their Twitter page, or email them. Their website, www.thesecretmagpie.com, will also be launched soon.

With “blinged up” browbands growing ever more popular, it also seems that they’re becoming more and more flashy. Five years ago, Joanne Raven crafted her own crystal beaded browband when she wanted a classy and unique browband that wasn’t so over the top.

With that browband, Joanne found a niche in the industry, as she received many compliments on her work. Her friends requested browbands of their own, and after fulfilling their requests, Joanne branched out into offering her classy browbands to the equestrian industry.

Based in Queensland, Australia, Joanne started Bling-It-On Leather in April of 2012. She had been running another horse-related business at the time, but after some thought she realized that she was enjoying the beaded leatherwork that she had been doing. Joanne sold her former business so that she could focus on Bling-It-On Leather and the work that she was so passionate about. 

Since beginning her business, Joanne has expanded Bling-It-On Leather to include far more than just browbands; today the business offers halters, leads, reins, dog collars, breastplates, belts, and miniature horse items (which have proven to be very popular). She just introduced all-crystal browbands.

Joanne works with a saddler who crafts quality soft padded leather products which she then customizes. Bling-It-On Leather products sport hand-sewn beads, gemstones, and crystals; customers have the ability to design their own products. With thousands of beads in stock, the potential designs are endless.

If you’re looking to combine the elegance of the horse with the luxury of quality jewelry, The Gorgeous Horse is the place to go. Offering custom-designed equine and canine-themed jewelry, The Gorgeous Horse prides itself on the detail and craftsmanship of its pieces.

Such quality does not go unnoticed: The Gorgeous Horse has been voted Reserve Champion in the Horse World Magazine jewelry division multiple times. The business is backed and accredited by some of the biggest and most prestigious breeds in the industry today: The Gorgeous horse has attended the Arabian Nationals for thirty consecutive years, the Saddlebred World Championship Show for twenty years, and the Equine Affaire for twelve years.

Founded in 1980 by Eddie and Annette Meador, The Gorgeous Horse is located in Daleville, Virginia and remains family owned and operated. Jason Maze, Eddie and Annette Meador’s grandson, has worked for The Gorgeous Horse for nineteen years. Jason is a third generation jeweler and designer, and graduated from the Jewelry Design Institute in 2003 as a degree in master stone setting and fabrication. Jason created The Gorgeous Horse’s website, which showcases over 900 pieces of jewelry. Jason’s brother, Chris Maze, is the metal smith, shop foreman, and quality control manager at The Gorgeous Horse. Chris has also been providing castings for seventeen years.

The Gorgeous Horse prides itself on excellent customer service and works to maintain the highest quality of product, customer satisfaction, and integrity. (I'm partial to their stackable rings which sport fun phrases like "rack on" and "heels down." Pieces can be custom designed, creating the piece of jewelry that you want to own. The Gorgeous Horse boasts a large inventory which is continuously being updated. For more information on The Gorgeous Horse, visit their website and their Facebook page.

PS - They do some great givewaways on their Facebook page!!

Bits n’ Pieces Custom Horsewear incorporates color and style into products for you, your horse, and your dog. With a product line including saddle pads, polo wraps, coolers, saddle covers, quarter sheets, dog collars, browbands, and even camera bags, color and patterns abound.

Business owner Meagan Landreth of Arkansas started the company in 2008 when she was searching for more interesting saddle pads than the standard solid colors available. Says Meagan, “the boring black, white, hunter, and navy just weren’t cutting it for me anymore!”

So Meagan took to her sewing machine, determined to bring some brilliance into her riding wardrobe. She didn’t intend to start a business at that time, but her friends saw the saddle pads she’d produced and all wanted one of their own.

And it’s easy to see why: Bits n’ Pieces Custom Horsewear offers saddle pads in an impressive range of colors, patterns, and styles. Each pad clearly reflects the personality of its owner, and the pads will definitely make you and your horse stand out in the ring.

Given the success of her saddle pads, Meagan has continued to expand into other products at the request of her clients. All of her products are customized for the buyer. The popularity of Bits n’ Pieces Custom Horsewear’s products has steadily spread; Meagan has shipped products all over the United States, as well as to Canada, Australia, Italy, and the UK.

While custom saddle pads are her specialty, Meagan also has a growing line of other custom products. She notes that the Eventer Style saddle pad is a recent addition that has proven to be very popular.

For more information on ordering from Bits n’ Pieces Custom Horsewear, visit their website or their Facebook page, or email them directly at contact@bitsnpieceshorsewear.com. Photos of the items offered by Bits n’ Pieces Custom Horsewear are also available on their Pinterest and Instagram pages.

And Psssst – we’ve got a special deal for you. Mention the code “SBB2014” to get 10% off of your order!